Video: Burn Bans Spread Across The State

NOXUBEE COUNTY and WEBSTER COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Refrain from burning until further notice. That’s what local and surrounding counties under burn bans are urging their residents to do.

There’s eighty-two counties in Mississippi and forty-two are under burn bans, and half of those counties are in the WCBI viewing area.

Due to little rain and lots of dryness, fire coordinators are calling for one thing, a burn ban.

“The burn bans in Mississippi are actually enforced by the sheriff’s department. Once they’re put into place by the supervisors and the Mississippi Forestry Commission, they’re enforced after that by the sheriff’s departments,” says Noxubee County Fire Coordinator, Jim Robbins.

It can take seconds for a small fire to spread flames across a lot of land.

“A lot of people do forget about it and don’t think about it. You get out working in your yard and you say, ‘well, I’ll rake these leaves up, and I want to burn them,’ and just don’t think about it, and the wind comes by and blows an ember somewhere where it’s dry, and it’ll catch a big fire,” says Webster County Fire Coordinator, Barry Rushing,

Rushing says there’s been three fires in the area since the ban was put in place last week.

“One was a major grass fire and was burning on some Weyerhaeuser property, and we didn’t know how it got started or anything, like you said, someone could have thrown their cigarette out going down the road or something.”

Robbins says any heat source needs to be restrained during these dry times.

“Once these fires and conditions that we’re experiencing right now, again with the breeze, breezy condition and also the dry, extremely dry conditions, they can get out of hand, and now we’re not only looking at brush and grass problems, but also affecting property, such as houses.”

That can lead to millions of dollars worth of damage. However, Robins says there are several exemptions during the ban, like this one in Noxubee County.

“They do have an exemption for agriculture purposes only. Those are exempted from the burn ban. At this time, everything else is regulated by this current burn ban that we’re under,” says Robbins.

If residents fail to follow the ban, they better expect to pay a hefty fine or possible jail time.

All counties under the burn ban will remain in effect until the given date, or if it rains and the county lifts the ban.